When we look at the issue of increasing the number of women on the boards of companies, it is still very apparent that most of the initiatives come from governments and regulators. Members of the British employers' organizations the 30% Club or its US equivalent the 30% Coalition may be exceptions, but company owners are still a distinct minority. This stems from last year's study by Deloitte entitled Women in the boardroom: A global perspective which examined the interest in increasing the number of women on boards in 25 countries. "This is odd, because shareholders are the owners of the company; one might expect they should have the strongest interest in the benefits of more diverse boards — an interest that should benefit the value of their portfolios. Research has found that diverse perspectives lead to more innovative and robust solutions," the study concludes.

The study focused on various approaches for promoting diversity in corporate top management, including a call to publish companies' diversity policies, setting targets and introducing quotas. Can we see greater involvement of company owners in the near future? This question cannot be answered accurately. However, it is clear that the debate about women on boards can be fostered only through the cooperation of all stakeholders: business owners, representatives of management, boards of directors and supervisory boards, business associations, governments and politicians.

The European Union and quotas for women

The European Commissioner Viviane Reding's proposal to introduce quotas for women's representation on the supervisory boards of companies listed on European stock exchanges has been approved by 21 of the 27 parliaments of EU member states. The quota should be 30 percent from 2015 and 40 percent from 2020. The Czech Republic is one of the states that refused to implement quotas. In January 2014, however, the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs started preparing a project to promote balanced representation of women and men in decision-making positions. The project's aim is to create an action plan to be submitted to the government. Germany was even faster. Even though the country was still protesting loudly against quotas for women at the end of 2012, they changed their opinion and approved the quotas. The question remains whether companies that fail to meet the quota will really face sanctions starting next year.

From the start of 2016, quotas will be applied e.g., in France, Italy and Belgium (Women should gain 40% of the seats on supervisory boards of publicly traded companies, companies with more than 500 employees and with turnover of more than € 50 million for the last three years). Sanctions for not complying with the regulations have been prepared in these states. By contrast, Spain and the Netherlands have also approved the quotas, but without sanctions.

Women in non-executive management of European companies

Source: Women in the boardroom: A global perspective, Deloitte, 2013

The largest increase compared to the previous year was recorded in France and Germany (over 5 percent).

The Czech Republic was not included in the study. However, another study by the Deloitte Corporate Governance Center of the Czech Republic from 2013 showed that there were 8% of women in the the statutory bodies of the companies in the Czech Top 100 ranking. Most of them worked in the sectors of health care, telecommunications, transportation, and IT.

Results from other countries are available in the Women in the boardroom: A global perspective study which can be downloaded here.

What do you think about the quotas? What solution for increasing the diversity of corporate management do you prefer?

-Kk-